"...What exactly is Black trying to do?"
The sounds of smashing and cursing came from the Minister's Office. Everyone knew Fudge was in a towering rage, so they wisely avoided the office. Even matters that genuinely required Fudge's attention were quietly postponed. No one wanted to get on the Minister's bad side.
Ever since Sirius Black had dropped several Heavy News stories at the Three Broomsticks, Minister of Magic Fudge had found himself in serious trouble. Especially after news spread that Fudge had accepted half of the Peter family's fortune in exchange for allowing Mrs. Peter to visit Peter in Azkaban Prison, the magical world immediately erupted in criticism. Worse still were Mrs. Peter's subsequent antics—she had actually used Polyjuice Potion to rescue Peter from Azkaban, leading many to suspect a conspiracy. They even believed Fudge had known all along and tacitly permitted Mrs. Peter to break Peter out of Azkaban Prison, with half of the Peter family's fortune serving as the price of the deal.
When the situation was unclear, conspiracy theories were truly popular.
Many people expressed their doubts and demanded that the Ministry of Magic investigate where the money had gone.
Although most of the money had been processed and donated to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries for charity, it still caused Fudge no small amount of trouble.
However, after Sirius Black revealed that Peter Pettigrew was trying to revive Voldemort—and seemed to have shown signs of success—the whole matter became rather disastrous.
If not for the matter of Voldemort's revival, even if someone knew about the deal between Fudge and Mrs. Peter, it would not have been such a big deal.
After all, anyone who investigated would discover that Fudge had never handled the money himself. He had donated the entire fortune directly